Her Talent for Courting Death Has Always Been Impressive - Chapter 23 Part 4

Listening to Yang Buqi’s explanation, Xu Turan recalled everything she had experienced at the guesthouse and formed a rough concept of the so-called “domain” in her mind.

“Did all those missing people enter the domain?” Xu Turan asked.

Yang Buqi shook his head: “As far as I know, it can’t be determined.”

Xu Turan: “?”

“Those missing people did indeed visit the 15th floor and entered rooms 1501 and 1502—but their disappearances didn’t all occur here.”

In fact, most of these people disappeared outside of Plum Blossom Apartments.

“Either at home or at work… Of course, most often at their own residences. But apart from these facts and that they all visited the 15th floor, we can’t find any more clues or commonalities among them,” Yang Buqi said. “There’s no discernible pattern.”

“Generally speaking, to pull prey into a domain, the target first needs to perform certain rituals or come into contact with the ritual, so that a subtle mark will be imprinted on them. Then the abomination can accurately target them… But to this day, we don’t know what that mark is, or even if it exists.”

With no pattern to be found and no mark to lock onto, it was impossible to assert that the disappeared people had all entered the domain—some had suggested earlier that perhaps they weren’t missing, but had been privately kidnapped or killed by other cult members.

Yang Buqi became worried as he mentioned this, his concerned gaze occasionally falling on Xu Turan. However, Xu Turan appeared unconcerned, as if the person currently wandering around in 1501 wasn’t her.

As they spoke, the two had walked through the entire 1501. Xiao Zhang, hugging the suit doll, stood hesitantly in the living room when he suddenly felt a warmth in his pocket. He reached in and touched the rules paper he had peeled off earlier.

The words on it had changed again. He quickly scanned it and raised his head nervously: “Um, the rules hint that the high-risk period is almost over, and we shouldn’t linger on the 15th floor…”

“Understood,” Yang Buqi nodded, his first reaction was to grab Xu Turan tightly beside him.

Xu Turan: “…”

“Well, I wasn’t planning to stay,” she paused for a moment before speaking sincerely.

She wasn’t stupid. The rules were prompting them to leave now, certainly because those ability users were about to seal this place off again. Why would she be brainless enough to stay here without food or drink?

Yang Buqi looked at her deeply, confirming she wasn’t lying before slowly releasing his grip on her.

“Sorry,” he said softly. Xu Turan waved it off nonchalantly and quickly walked out with him. Xiao Zhang followed closely behind. Just as they walked out of the 15th floor corridor, they felt a shake in front of their eyes. When they recovered, they were back in the normal stairwell.

Xiao Zhang looked around, still shaken: “Does this mean we’re out? Where are we?”

Yang Buqi quickly walked to the stairwell entrance and peeked out.

“It’s the 12th floor,” he waved to the two of them. “Come out, it’s fine now.”

He beckoned the two to leave the stairwell, took back the rules paper, carefully pasted it back on the elevator door, then turned to look at Xu Turan.

“I happen to be staying on the floor above. Can you wait for me a bit? I’ll go get something for you, then take you back to the 14th floor.”

Although they hadn’t encountered anything thrilling in the real 15th floor, given the many previous disappearance cases, Yang Buqi thought it would be better to give Xu Turan something for self-protection, just to be safe.

Xu Turan nodded, not quite understanding, and followed Yang Buqi into the elevator. She casually remarked: “I didn’t even react when you just said 14th floor. You guys really came up with something, using the 14th floor to disguise the 15th floor… Aren’t you afraid others will notice?”

“I’m not sure about the details, but Renxin Institute should have made thorough preparations,” Yang Buqi said. “Besides, didn’t they say they even changed the keys in advance? Generally, as long as the key can successfully open the door, no one would question the authenticity of the room behind it, right?”

“That’s true…” Xu Turan nodded thoughtfully, vaguely feeling that something flashed through her mind, but she couldn’t quite grasp it in time.

As they spoke, the elevator had already stopped. When the two walked out of the elevator again, the red-lettered rules paper that should have been pasted on the outside of the elevator door had completely disappeared.

This meant that the high-risk period for Plum Blossom Apartments had truly passed, but Yang Buqi didn’t feel the slightest bit of relief because of this.

He greeted Xu Turan, turned around and took out his key to open the door. Xu Turan watched him insert the key into the keyhole and suddenly furrowed her brow—

In a flash, she suddenly realized what had flashed through her mind earlier!

—【The problem is that the missing people didn’t disappear here. Either at home or at work… Of course, most often at their own residences. But apart from these facts and that they all visited the 15th floor, we can’t find any more clues or commonalities among them.】

—【But to this day, we don’t know what that mark is, or even if it exists.】

—【The key was on him all along.】

—【Could it be that the key he was referring to isn’t the one he has now?】

—【Perhaps what he really wants to open isn’t this door?】

—【Generally, as long as the key can successfully open the door, no one would question the authenticity of the room behind it, right?】

…

As if a flash of light exploded in her brain, before Xu Turan could react, she had already rushed forward, suddenly pushing Yang Buqi away from the door.

Yang Buqi, who was opening the door, was clearly startled by her. Xu Turan quickly said “Sorry, I urgently need the bathroom”, then without hesitation turned the key in her hand, pushed the door open forcefully, and squeezed in.

Her feet landed on the floor, and she swayed a bit due to the force of her rush. After steadying herself, she suddenly looked up, only to see an unfamiliar living room.

It had the same layout as 1501, but looked more lived-in. There was a black backpack on the living room sofa, with a corner of men’s clothes peeking out.

“Xu Turan?” Yang Buqi’s surprised voice came from behind. Xu Turan paused for a moment, scratching her cheek somewhat embarrassedly.

“I’m sorry, it seems I was mistaken,” she said to Yang Buqi behind her, turning around as she spoke. “I thought it was the key that had been tampered with, and that just entering would…”

She looked at the unfamiliar red wall in front of her, murmuring the last half of her sentence: “…transport us to another space.”

She no longer heard Yang Buqi’s voice. They had been completely separated. Xu Turan carefully touched the bright red wall in front of her. It looked very solid, but felt slightly soft to the touch, like a piece of meat that had just thawed.

The prompt in her mind finally sounded, slowly at first, then one after another—

【Congratulations, you have gained 500 Courting Death Value points!】

【Congratulations, you currently have over 1000 Courting Death Value points. Unlocked reward function—Quality Matching Special Skill x1.】

【Congratulations, you have obtained the Quality Special Skill—Mad Rabbit – Unlucky Rabbit Leg.】